Mysterious light blamed for circle of fire

[DougalLongfoot]

Mysterious light blamed for circle of fire

Tasmanian police and firefighters are unable to explain the source of a beam of light which reportedly fell from the sky and formed a circle of fire in a Hobart suburb.

Early yesterday morning police and fire crews received calls from concerned residents in Carnegie Street at Claremont, who reported seeing a bright light igniting a fire in a nearby paddock.

Tasmania Fire Service officer Scott Vinen says the blaze was quickly put out, leaving an obvious burnt patch.

He says the bizarre incident has everyone baffled.

"Once we put the fire out, we kind of walked through the fire and tried to find something," he said.

"We thought a flare or something may have landed there, but we couldn't find any cause."

The Fire Service says it will not investigate further.

Photo of burnt patch at original article.

 

[Zilch5]

I just saw this on my ABC News phone app. Seriously bizarre!

The first attack of home built laser drones? :shock:

 

[rynner2]

It's not a very good circle, is it?

Perhaps it was meant to be a map of Tasmania...

 

[oldrover]

I find this fascinating, partly because of where it is, not much in the article though is there. I'd like to know how many residents phoned in.

 

[Zilch5]

It seems a bit odd that only the ABC News seems to have published this.

I have searched in vain in the Tasmanian news websites - and Google Image Search doesn't provide any other sources either.

Most puzzling.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Agreed ... I found no mention of this on the local (Hobart) newspaper website.

The ABC story documentation (such as it is) doesn't explain why they referred to a light or give any details about this alleged light.

I would also point out that the Hobart area is experiencing a record hot summer, and wildfires have been epidemic around Hobart and across Tasmania. If you rummage through the archives you'll see that wildfires are a very touchy subject right now.

I also found multiple references to arsons in that particular area of Hobart dating back months. So there's a recent history of criminal fire-starting episodes (e.g., a group of young guys stealing cars only to burn them out).

Another point is that there have been UFO sighting reports in the area over the last few months - raising the possibility the ABC reporter was simply trying to link this mystery fire with recent UFO stories via reference to the sky ...

 

[Zilch5]

Another point is that there have been UFO sighting reports in the area over the last few months - raising the possibility the ABC reporter was simply trying to link this mystery fire with recent UFO stories via reference to the sky ...

My thinking exaclty - except that I normally expect the ABC to be above such things.